No abstract

Background: A lot of emphasis is often placed on modern governance systems and little or no attention is given to traditional governance practices which remain largely undocumented. The study aimed at finding out important traditional and modern governance practices that regulate traditional medicine sector in Western Kenya. Materials and methods: The study was carried out in selected market centres of Western Kenya where the identified traditional medicine practitioners (TMPs) sell their traditional medicine. All consenting TMPs and professional experts were interviewed with the aid of a semi-structured questionnaire. Purposive sampling design with elements of snowball techniques was employed in tracing competent traditional medicine (TM) experts and relevant professional experts. The data collected was processed in Microsoft Excel and descriptive statistics performed. Pearson's chi-square statistics was carried out to determine the significance of the traditional and modern governance data sets using the STATA software. Results: Modern governance practices were not significantly different in all the market centres surveyed (p = 0.080). Equally, the traditional governance practices were also not significantly different in all the selected market centres (p = 1.000). Conclusions: Traditional governance practices play an important role in the governance of traditional medicine and are shaped by the socio-cultural beliefs of the local communities. Modern governance practices, on the other hand, are widely perceived as top downregulation of the traditional medicine growing industry.

No abstract

Background: There exist vast traditional medicine and herbal remedies prescribed for diseases and socio-cultural ills that are sold in local medicine markets.Objectives: To assess the common traditional medicine traded in the local medicine markets and used for treating common diseases.Methods: The study was carried out in nine purposively selected medicine markets spread out in seven administrative counties of Western Kenya. Purposive sampling with elements of snow ball method was employed in the identification of willing respondents.In addition, face to face interviews were conducted with the aid of a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire that sought to extract a targeted and expertise information from the respondents.Results: The survey recorded 45 commonly traded plant families composed of 78 genera and 87 medicinal plant species. Meliaceae, Apocynaceae and Fabaceae were leading plant families whereas Trichilia emetica, Azadirachta indica, Dregea schimperi and Aloe spp. were commonly traded.Conclusion: Traditional medicine traded in the local medicine markets continue to play a significant role in the treatment of common diseases. Frequently traded medicinal plant species should be prioritized for conservation.Keywords: Traditional Medicine; Common disease treated; Medicine markets.

Hay production is a flagship project under drought risk reduction and climate change adaptation programs in pastoralism livestock systems in Kenya. For decision-makers to plan and evaluate their projects, they need localized data on hay production and supply and to understand what attitudes influence demand for hay by pastoralists. A cost-benefit analysis on 23 hay farms and a questionnaire knowledge, attitude and practice survey on 340 pastoralists in Kajiado Central were undertaken. This study provides the hay production versus hay deficit figures in Kajiado Central County. The study also measures the financial losses livestock keepers incur during drought migration and correlates these losses against livestock keeper's decision to buy hay for their animals. The study established that the drought in 2017, Kajiado Central County had a 48% hay deficit (2,580,000 hay bales) worth about KES 902 million needed to cover three months of the severest period of the drought. At the same time, hay production and supply were 49,138 grown hay and 3292 purchased hay bales and 6177 bags of commercial feeds and forage. The study also found that 86% of livestock keepers buy hay only when their animals started dying at the severest period of the drought. Hay buying mainly occurs in drought years, and averagely for three months only. From 2005 to 2020, there have been five years of severe drought. Because hay production is a critical climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy for droughts, Kajiado needs to reduce the hay deficit by 67% (average of 2015 & 2017), disaster management planners need to align the hay supply to hay purchasing practices. In addition, decision-makers need to address the low hay supply by tackling the challenges of hay production.